Craigavon Area Plan 2010
Preamble

The Craigavon Area Plan 2010 is a development plan prepared by the Planning Service, an Agency within the Department of the Environment, under the provisions of Part 3 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.

This document comprises the written statement of the Craigavon Area Plan 2010. It should be read in association with the accompanying maps. In the event of a contradiction between the written statement and a map, the provisions of the written statement will prevail.

The Planning (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 amends existing legislation contained in the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 and the Strategic Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1999. Under this Order development plans are required to be ‘in general conformity with’ the Regional Development Strategy for Northern Ireland 2025 Shaping Our Future (RDS), published in September 2001. The Draft Craigavon Area Plan 2010 was at an advanced stage of preparation before the RDS was confirmed and hence not every policy and proposal in the Plan is fully aligned with the RDS. It is recognised that it is impossible to immediately align every plan with the RDS and hence, Article 29 of this Order declares the Craigavon Area Plan 2010 to be an ‘excepted plan’ for which the need to be in general conformity with the RDS does not apply. The RDS will, however, be a material consideration in determining individual planning applications and planning appeals within the Craigavon Borough.

A Notice of Intention to prepare the Plan was published in the press on 4th November 1993 and comments were invited from the public and interested parties in respect of the issues to be addressed in the Plan. Consultations were also carried out with Craigavon Borough Council, community groups, Government Departments and Agencies, statutory undertakers and other appropriate bodies. All representations received were taken into account in preparing the Preliminary Proposals of the Plan.

The Department published the Craigavon Area Plan 2010 Preliminary Proposals in June 1995. These were placed on public display in Marlborough House, the Town Hall, Lurgan and the Town Hall, Portadown, between 16th June 1995 and 22nd June 1995. A notice advising that the Department had prepared the Preliminary Proposals was published in the local and provincial press in the two weeks beginning 15th June 1995 and comments were invited from the public and interested parties over a 14 week period. During this time meetings were held with the Borough Council. Representations were subsequently received from the Borough Council, a number of statutory and voluntary bodies and individual members of the public.

In January 1996, the Department decided to put into abeyance progress on the preparation of the Plan, pending the preparation of the Belfast City Region Strategy. This strategy was subsequently absorbed into work on the formulation of the Regional Development Strategy. The preparation of the Draft Plan resumed in late 1998, and the Department placed a Notice of Intention to prepare the Draft Plan in the local and provincial press and in the Belfast Gazette, on 19th February 1999. Comments were invited from the public and interested parties over a 14 week period. During this time further meetings were held with the Borough Council. Representations were subsequently received from the Borough Council, a number of statutory and voluntary bodies and individual members of the public.

The Department considered all representations received, following which it published the Draft Craigavon Area Plan 2010. The statutory time for objection ran until 7th June 2000. To clarify some ambiguities in the Draft Craigavon Area Plan Maps, the Department published a clarification of the following proposals in November 2000:

A revision to Technical Supplement Volume 2, in respect of the Tourism and Recreation section, was also published in November 2000. Representations or objections were invited in relation only to matters being clarified. The period for receipt of representations expired on 22nd December 2000. No additional representations were received by the Department.

A total of 259 objections were received to the Draft Plan. Upon consideration of the objections the Department requested the Planning Appeals Commission (the Commission) to hold a public inquiry into the relevant objections and to report to the Department on the Inquiry.

The Public Inquiry into the Draft Area Plan commenced in May 2001 and was conducted on various dates until 31st November 2001. The Commission subsequently reported to the Department on its consideration of the objections. The recommendations contained in the report by the Commission have been fully considered by the Department in finalising the outcome of the objections and the consequent revisions to the Plan. Full details of the Department’s response to the Commission’s recommendations are set out in the Craigavon Area Plan 2010 Adoption Statement.

The Department is now publishing the Craigavon Area Plan 2010. This document incorporates the amendments outlined in the Adoption Statement and replaces all previous versions of the Craigavon Area Plan 2010. In preparing the Draft Plan, the Department published a Technical Supplement providing technical information which has influenced the policies and proposals contained in the Plan. The information contained in the Technical Supplement was compiled prior to the publication of the Draft Area Plan in April 2000. The Technical Supplement is not part of the statutory plan.

Nothing in the Plan should be read as a commitment that public resources will be provided for any specific project. All proposals for expenditure by the Department are subject to economic appraisal and will also have to be considered having regard to the overall availability of resources.

All maps are reproduced by permission of the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Crown Copyright Reserved 2004.